Matt Mullenweg of wordpress fame recently did an interview with the Yahoo Developer network. This video could have been better.

As usual in my improve series, I’m not going to talk about the content, but the technical side.

The goods

They used a tripod, they used proper white balance.

Nice to have some opening graphics, it gives the whole piece more weight. Though for my feeling, the title should have the same graphic feel and sound as the opening graphic.

Camera

There is way too much headspace. Tilt down a bit. Or even better: use 16:9 widescreen format, which works much better for 2 persons.

Change perspective. Flat on is usually boring. In an interview situation, I would move the camera so we see more of the interviewee’s face, while getting the interviewer more in profile.

Get closer. When you see that a person is talking for a longer time, zoom in. Preferably, have one camera locked on a two shot, and then have a second operated camera, that zooms in — and follows — the interviewee. Thus you can cut between those two, hiding those ugly zooms. If need be, then close-ups of the interviewer can be shot right after the interview.

Watch your background. White background is about the worst for a camera, it draws attention. Jeremy’s head gets almost lost in the background.

Sound

This is the weirdest miking I have seen in a while One huge attention-drawing microphone on the interviewer, and one tiny lavaliere mike on Matt, where no effort was made to hide the cable.

Interviewer and interviewee really should have the same type of microphone, otherwise it just looks ridiculous. Preferably a lavaliere — this would also help the informal atmosphere. And a lavaliere that is hidden under the sweater. If you don’t have time for that, put the wire behind the back of the interviewee.

If you have to use two totally different mikes, do us the favor and use 10 seconds to even those microphone levels in-camera. As it is now, Jeremy is way louder than Matt. If anything, the interviewee should be loudest.

Walter Moss from the Wall Street Journal is one of the most influential technology journalists, and a while back he started a blog, the Mossblog. Currently he is obviously at CES, where he and his team post written and video blogs. Here is today’s offering:

Ouch!

Given his professional, technical background, I am truly surprised at the poor technical quality of the video. I am not even going to start about the camerawork, or utter lack of white balancing; in a reportage the sound is obviously most important. And in this video, sorry to say, the sound sucks. It sucks bad. To help Walter and the Wall Street Journal, I thus suggest that we equip him with some proper gear. I would suggest to equip Walter with

• a Sennheiser MD 46 mike to pick up the interviewee’s words without too much background noise
• a wireless lavaliere microphone to wear
• a manual for the camera, outlining how to set the sound level

Let’s do it

To do this, I need your help.

If you would like to help technology writer Walter Moss to present his work in a technical acceptable way, please write in a comment and pledge how much you will donate. And spread the word. Once $200 are pledged, I will get in touch with Sennheiser and see if they could help out on the missing amount.